Thursday, June 14, 2007

Gateau basque d'Itxassou


Yesterday, I said I was going to post a Linzer Tart recipe. That's coming, but today I want to share another recipe that uses Raspberry Preserves. You can use other fruit jams, the classic is cherry, but it must be really good. We are getting approximately 2 kilos of Raspberries a day now. This should keep up for another week then taper off.
Consequently, we are dealing with them every day and able to make pots of raspberry jam. This is a simple regional classic from Basque Country. It's a gateau, but it's made like a pie with a top.
For the crust:
Put 275 grams of flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Into the center, put 2 egg yolks, save the whites for later. Then add 220 grams of melted butter, a pince of salt, 200 grams of sugar and the grated zest of a lemon.

Mix all this together quickly, you should have a fairly firm dough.
Let it sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

When you are ready, preheat your oven to 350 (225 C). Butter a tart pan and divide the dough into 2 parts, one part should be a third larger than the other.
Put the larger part in the tart pan and push it into shape with your fingers.

You will need about 400 grams of jam. Spread that onto the tart. You can roll out the rest of the dough or spread it out by hand and put the sheet over the top of the jam.
Seal the edges. Make 6 little holes in the surface of the of the tart and then paint the reserved egg whites onto the pastry with a brush. Then use a fork to make a wavy all over pattern on the crust.

Put it into the oven for 35 minutes, the crust should be golden brown. When it is cool, take it out of the tart pan and admire it, but not for too long! Bon apetit, bien sur!

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